York school panel backs 'pay for play,' restores some ed tech jobs to budget

Friday

Jan 31, 2014 at 2:00 AM

YORK, Maine — After weeks of debate and deliberations, the York School Committee on Thursday night voted 5-0 to adopt a budget for fiscal year 2015 that includes a new plan to charge student activities fees.

Lauren Mifsud

YORK, Maine — After weeks of debate and deliberations, the York School Committee on Thursday night voted 5-0 to adopt a budget for fiscal year 2015 that includes a new plan to charge student activities fees.

The $28.6 million budget represents a 3.63 percent increase over last year.

The total reduction in personnel with the new budget, factoring in revenue from activity and athletics fees, is 8.9 net positions.

The new budget includes the addition of one full-time kindergarten teacher, and leaves 3.5 kindergarten ed techs in the classrooms. The original personnel cuts suggested all six ed tech positions be cut.

Committee members said district officials arrived at the new budget total after refiguring numbers, adding in the activities fees and taking $270,000 from the fund balance, leaving $212,000 in funds.

The activity fees — which include $100 per sport per season for high school students, $25 for high school extracurricular fees, including drama, and $75 per sport at the middle school and $20 for extracurricular activities — are expected to raise $90,449. Fees will be capped at $300 per family.

A presentation by Superintendent Debra Dunn indicated that many of the neighboring districts, such as Falmouth, Cape Elizabeth, Yarmouth and Scarborough, charge participation fees.

Parent Sara Simonds said those towns have higher tax rates and receive more state funding, and are still charging those fees.

"Through sixth or seventh grade, parents fund most of this stuff out of pocket anyway," Simonds said. "These proposed fees are less than parks and rec fees and certainly less than club sports. The majority of our peer group has enacted these; we're in good company."

The School Committee stressed that no student would be refused participation based on an inability to pay. The district will look at programs such as the free and reduced lunch plan, which currently 12 percent to 13 percent of students use, as an indicator of how many students and families may not be able to afford the fees.

"I really will be surprised if there is anybody who really wants to participate who will be left behind based on what we're proposing," said committee member John D'Aquila. "I think we will need to get creative to increase revenue to approach our deficit issues, and collectively we should all work on that and figure out what will work for the town and be the most effective."

The committee said parking fees are a possibility in the future, but are not being implemented at this time.

Since Jan. 14, when a standing-room-only crowd of residents protested a planned $570,000 in personnel cuts, a committee had been looking at "pay for play," parking fees and other means to generate revenue.

Early on in Thursday night's meeting, committee Chairman Tim Fitzgerald said he wanted to clear up what he felt were public misconceptions about the budget.

"The concept that the School Committee looks to the Tax Task Force is absolutely incorrect," he said. "We do not listen to them, we have not listened to them, and the budget we're proposing tonight is not within the Tax Task Force recommendation."

The board also spent some time discussing Seacoast Media Group's Jan. 29 editorial. The editorial urged the School Committee to stay the line on cuts, and took Superintendent Debra Dunn to task for both putting forward a proposed budget that carried a hefty increase and clapping when budget supporters spoke at the Jan. 21 public hearing.

"The 6.5 percent to 6.8 percent budget increase was never intended as the actual budget," said committee member Marilyn Zotos. "We approached the budget this year with great transparency, and the town should be proud that the public has had the opportunity up front to understand what's going on."

Zotos also said Dunn was clapping for reasons other than the budget, and that the board takes into account all taxpayers when crafting a budget plan.

"We're all here because we want educational excellence, not because we want a discounted education," she said.

The Budget Committee's first review of school expenses is expected to take place Tuesday, Feb. 11 — a week after it was first expected to start the review. A second and possibly final review will be held Tuesday, Feb. 25.

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